Huge blackberry flavor. Not overly sweet, slightly sour, good beer flavor underneath. Blackberry flavor is so fresh that you feel like you can taste the seeds. Very nice, and I am not a huge fan of fruit beers. Pleasant funk comes through after you have been drinking it for a while.

Pours a deep reddish purple into a tumbler glass, stiff meringue foam that rises above the rim and hangs there momentarily. The foam has a pinkish red hue to it from the blackberries. Clarity is low and the beer is fairly opaque. Lots of chunky lace with strong staying power. Lasting surface coverage.

500 ml bottle (1 pint 0.9 fl oz.) with no apparent bottled on date present. Acquired this bottle at the local beer store, my first beer from Brouwerij West. My first encounter with this sort of beer, and I'm not entirely sure what to expect. Listed here as a fruit / vegetable beer.

Poured into a Duvel tulip glass.

A - Pours a giant four plus fingers of fluffy foamy pinkish-purple cotton candy looking head on top of a dark purple-ruby colored body. Lots of active carbonation. Excellent head retention & big fat sheets of lacing. Looks pretty delicious.

S - Not really getting much on the initial sniff, but musty carbonation, and lemon / lime citrus qualities are what jump out at me. A sour / funky yeast presence is also noticeable, but it is otherwise pretty tame.

M - Feel is crisp and clean. Excellent drinkability for a 7.00% abv beer. Medium bodied with high brisk carbonation.

Overall, I thought it was a delicious introduction to this brewery for me. Probably my first ale brewed with blackberries also, and I have to say that they come through nicely. Not sure why this doesn't have higher ratings than it does, but I would surely have it again, and it scratches that mild everyday sour itch nicely.

Straight pour from a 500ml/16.9oz pry-off bottle to a teku; no bottling date that I can see, but this all comes from a relatively recent batch, it seems, that made its way to Florida so all things considered, it ain’t that old.

Appearance (3.75): This pours with a beauuutiful 3-4 finger, light reddish-pink head of foam that crackles away audibly above a deep, deep burgundy-colored body that glows when held to the light but also betrays a substantial haziness. The head dies down relatively slowly, leaving an uneven, cratery surface and a thick, wide collar all the way around the glass. Personally, I think it looks great, if a bit murky—and without much lacing.

Taste (4.25): Aaaand as per the nose, the flavor is part saison / part blackberry jam, but skewing more toward blackberry wine than in the nose. Quite tart and tannic with the feel of acidic berry juice and muddled grape skins, but offset by peppery spice and earthy, dry straw, and some pale, biscuity, rustic-bready malt underneath. But this is really dominated by tart, rich berry flavor, with vinous, tannic undertones and just a fat, rich, juicy feel. And yet, somehow, it all remains very dry. I really dig this beer. It finishes astonishingly dry, fueled by fruity tannins and tart berry juice. Very little booze detected.

Mouthfeel (4.75): Exceedingly dry and effervescent, with a medium-weight feel, velvety carbonation that foams up eagerly and fills all spaces, viscous body, and very, very dry (but not parching) finish. The ONLY bone I could pick is that it foams out a little too eagerly. But barely so.

Overall (4.25): I’ve enjoyed everything about this beer. The appearance isn’t outstanding (though still quite pretty) and elements of the smell and flavor could be a bit more balanced and richer, but overall there’s a lot of very, very nice things going on in this beer that not only coexist (a heavily fruited saison?) but actually manage to harmonize (a heavily fruited saison!). Brouwerij West pulled off something very, very intriguing here, and I’m excited to try some more of their products.

N: Fruit (rasberries, blackberries, cranberries), yeast, some mild funk, juicy, tart, faint wood/earth, trace sweetness. The blackberry juice and saison yeast combo could easily be mistaken for an off aroma if you didn't know it was a component.

T: Yeasty and fruity with juicy skins. Grape-like with a mild tartness.

M: Semi-moderate body and medium carbonation. Initial fruit on tip followed by the yeast. Finishes semi-dry and slightly musty.